ForbesOnTech

After looking at IPad and work alikes-- I Decide to go Back to Convertible Notebooks

Selecting the right tools to stuff in my backpack to begin field research for the story I want to write has forced me to look at what I really need to carry and what I can leave stashed in my Kia Hamster van as I trudge CA River banks looking for prospectors. Originally, I thought I’d be able to use an i-Pad like slate computer in the field. But after using a friend’s iPad and portable keyboard for a several days, I realize I was seriously mistaken.

Because of their compact size, I had come to the conclusion a slate computer would be ideal. But two things happened that changed my mind. The first: I tried perching the keyboard on an somewhat uneven surface to type notes and ended up typing gibberish. Secondly, the note taking software on the iPad just isn’t a good fit for what I need to do in the field( a problem compounded by the fact that my favorite note taking software runs locally).

I may still buy a slate computer, but it’s unlikely I’ll use it in remote settings for anything other than displaying passive information or entertainment information.

But stuffing my back pack for the first of several forthcoming trips to the American, Bear and Yuba River drainages has forced me to re examine one of my favorite classes of portables, ultra compact notebooks with touch screens that fold over integrated keyboards.

Convertibles have made giant leaps in battery and graphics performance in the last two years. More importantly, they offer what I really need to accomplish my task of field reporting.

At the top of my list are, a useable keyboard. battery life and durability, both of which are now par with other subcompacts--six hours is very common today.

What’s really forcing me though to go with a convertible over a slate, IPad or similar device is the simple fact that what I really need to record my field notes is a full featured computer, not a device that forces me to work around a closed design,

A convertible gives me access to the portable backup device containing digitized ,maps, PDF snd other files I’ll need in the field. Devices like the iPad and its competitors lack basic USB connectivity, thus denying the 450 GB of data I’ve accumulated so far.

But th e real tipping point in the slate v convertible equation is even more basic; the design of most convertible is close enough to a tablet to provide the same “lean forward” user experience.

And because of higher capacity storage in convertibles, I’ll be able to watch my favorites movies before I go to sleep at night, camping by the side of auriferous northern California streams and rivers, which are at the center of the story I want to tell.

For now, I’m going to pass on slate computers and jump back on the Convertible notebook band wagon. I need full function computing, a good screen, a comfortable keyboard, local storage and USB expandability.

And will the one pound difference in my back pack slow me down? I think not. It never did when I had to carry a 45-50 pound ruck when I spent those 13 months champion with my friends in the 1^st Marines.

For now my choices are an HP DTM2, a Lenovo IdeaPad S Series S10-3t, or a Fujitsu Lifebook PH530. So if you see an old reporter trudging down ta California stream or river with a fishing rod clipped to one side of a back pack and a gold pan strapped to the back, stop and say “Hi!” Don’t worry about the dog, Chihuahuas seldom bite through boots.--Jim Forbes on 03/16/2011.

　

After Decades of Yawner Opearating System Launches Google Wakes me up with Android 2.2-- It's NFC Support Really is a Game Changer

In three decades of reporting on personal computing technologies very few operating system upgrade introductions ever did much more than make me yawn.

Even though it was 20 plus years ago, I can remember Microsoft launching an incremental release of Windows-- the best it could do was put a couple of industry luminaries (notably John Dvorak and Stu Alsop) on a raised dias as Bill Gates proudly launched two windows clocks from the accessory panel and showed them running simultaneously. It wasn’t really a big deal.

Perhaps that’s why today’s announcement by Google of Android 2.2 snapped me out of my incremental operating system malaise. I view this Android release as a really big deal and suspect some of its features will go on to become “must have” features for any popular smart phone operating system.

At the top of the list of features the 2.2 version of Android supports is Near Field Communications (NFC).

Initially available on Samsung’s Nexus S smart phone, NFC consists of a silicon transceiver built into the phone and Android 2.2 operating system software. The software lets smart phone users complete secure transactions with retail point of sale systems equipped with NFC hardware.

Over the last year numerous Geolocation-based software (including couponing applications) have been launched in an effort to create and strengthen bonds between consumers and retailers.

There are two huge problems such applications face: technology-poor retailers who either lack web sites or point of sale systems that can communicate with smart phones, and, smart phones capable of communicating with retail point of sale devices.

Samsung’s Nexus S and Google’s Android 2.2 operating system help solve one half of that problem set.

Although Google has tremendous name recognition, it has yet to establish itself in any consumer market segment. But its smart phone operating system technology can change that, particularly if the Mountain View, CA< company makes other inroads with consumer retail products.

Android 2.2 was as far from a yawner as any operating system upgrade launch I’ve ever covered.

At last, the game changes; Microsoft and Apple have to respond to NFC and smart phone manufacturers need to upgrade their hardware and software. Awake at last, Jim Forbes on 12/06/2010.

 

CapturenGo: Puts Money Back in Biz Travlers' Hands, Corrals Runaway Receipt Lost

 

 
About once every two-days I’m surprised to find little pieces of paper in my pocket litter collection. Most often, those pieces of paper are various receipts for transactions I’ve conducted over the last two days.

So why do I stash receipts? Simple answer: I use to lose up to $40 a week for business expenses that I was unable to account for.

CapturenGo, a new web-based service for camera-equipped smart phones with cameras helps eliminate this problem.

Available initially for the RIM blackberry platform and Apple’s iPhone, Captureengo lets users snap pictures of receipts (and business cards), and annotate the images with supplemental data needed for expense or trip reports.

Captured images are uploaded (in the .vcf format) from user’s phones to the Captureengo web sites where the information can be further organized into files needed for expense reporting using templates for commonly used Microsoft Excel or Adobe .PDF-based expense report forms.

CapturenGo appears at a time when airlines, hotels and other business related entities are providing travelers with detailed receipts, delivered by email. The new service allows users to forward that data to their CapturenGo accounts where they are easily integrated into expense accounts.

The firm’s CEO, David Peskin, notes that lost receipts cost some business travelers up to $1,000.00 a year. CapturenGo helps plug the drain on non-reimbursed business expenses.

A free version, supporting up to 50 receipt or business card captures is available now at www. CapturenGo.com.

The company is self-funded and its founders come from the banking industry.

Sun sequent versions of the program for Android operating system -based deices are under development, Mr. Peskin noted.

Since it was launched less than four months ago, almost 1,500 users have signed up for CapturenGo, the CEO said.
I like CapturenGo because it neatly solves a problem many business travelers face daily, and because its webs site is capable of generating electronic expense report in the most commonly used formats. It’s easy to use, takes advantage of technology that’s used by everyone. Keep an eye on this Melville, NY, company, they’re on my personal list of Companies to Watch.” -- Jim Forbes on 11/09/2010

My Three High Tide Picks for Demo Fall 2010-- Dynamics' Card 2.0,Copia Interactive and MobiCart.

Picking platform plays as demonstrators at shows such as Demo can be a two-edged sword. Unless they can be linked visibly to obvious user benefits, theey're often too subtle to go over well with an audience.

And platform software could well have been the underlying percussive beat that drove Demo Fall 2010.

One of the platform demonstrators that set a new high bar at Demo was Dynamics’ Card 2.0, which I believe was the most significant launch I’ve seen at Demo since Jeff Hawkins premiered the original Palm Pilot in the early 1990’s.

Dynamics Card 2.0 is based on a card programmable magnetic stripe and is a “smart” card that will work with existing card readers. What I love about Dynamics technologies is simple: I can turn the card on or off or invoke functions with a few simple keystrokes on the face of the card and it has an integrated display that can be used to show balances on gift cards. But most importantly, unlike many so-called disruptive technologies, Dynamics’ Card 2.0 works with the existing infrastructure. Also, unlike many of the the next-generation smart cards I saw in my time before Demo’s mast, Card 2.0 is both thin and extremely rugged.  Furthermore, because of built in safeguards, such as requirements to turn this device on and enter a numeric pass cade, I am cojmpetely satisfied with the safety of my financial information and account access.

I also like this company because of the work it put into its product design. Card 2.0 is

Jeff Mullen Dynamics’ CEO flat out nailed his demonstration. After watching his on-stage pitch, I went back and reviewed my notes. Sure enough he had answered every follow-up question I had noted.

Dynamics’ Card 2.0 was awarded Demo Fall’s Peoples’ Choice Award.  My advice to any company prepping for a future spot at Demo—including pitching Matt Marshall-- is to look at the video of Jeff Mullen’s on stage Demo and use it as a template. It was simply one of the best I’ve ever seen.

Copia Interactive may be one of the best forward positioned products and platforms I’ve seen  at Demo in the last several years. Copia is both a social media application and platform. Copia is also a great example of aiming a product at a convergence of technologies. What I love about Copia’s technology is that it taps into the turbulent force of social media and provides its users with the ability to create and manage ad hoc interest groups while maintaining control over what’s publicly shown.

Copia scored pints with me through its demonstration in an Apple iPad slate computer.

I went to Demo anxiously hoping I’d find even more reasons to devote the remainder of my 2010 “gadget budget” to the purchase of a slate compute. Copia may have pushed my decision forward while convincing me that screen real estate and the availability of a good external keyboard will be an important part of my purchase decision.

The basics of Copia’s capabilities are somewhat available now on shared social media platforms like Google Books, Facebook and other web-based services. What Copia has done is provide a platform and an application that synchronizes content in discussion and special interest that lets me pick out what I have in common with members of discussions and keep public and private notes on such conversations. And it also supports multiple views of conversations.

Over the years, I’ve been openly critical of technology companies that try to tap into the entertainment industry without investing in the intellectual capital that drives the segment.

Two minutes into a conversation with this demonstrator in the pavilion and I said to myself “Aha! They get Hollywood and New York Media!” Copia was shown running on Apple iPads, Windows 7 computers but its developers make the point they’re platform agnostic but dedicated to the e-reader platform. The agnosticism that marks this platform should help any publishing partner that wants to incorporate social media as a strategic component to its long-term marketing plans. What I see in Copra is a platform that fundamentally binds users to brands and products at a grassroots level.

A small UK-based start-up at Demo Fall 2010 called MobiCart, demonstrated a technology that I think goes a long way in helping to deliver on the promises of making it much easier for retailers of all sizes to sell products online. MobiCart art does something that’s not really been done before: it allows retailers to to set up e-commerce sites that reflect not only their unique inventories, but also their individual brands. And it does this with less hassle than any other product I’ve ever seen.

MobiCart is an iPhone app. When used by consumers, it supports normal shopping cart functions and allows users to shop using one of several views.

MobiCart launches at a critical time. Companies such as Visa have recently announced their intentions to bring ecommerce to smart phones, at the time as geo-location based shopping site and applications are flourishing. This small company’s technology benefits from being at the right place at the right time, but the developer isn’t blind to the reality of the US market and told me in the pavilion they were indeed looking beyond the confines of the iPhone and thinking about readying versions for Android-based handsets.

But, while geolocation based shopping is growing, what’s been missing are simple toold that close the chasm between retailers and consumers.  MobiCart bridges this chasm.

My enduring post event thought about this company is that I hope it catches the attention of platform managers at either Visa or Intuit, both of which could use MobiCart as a foundation product for mobile commerce platforms.

I’m still thinking about a couple of other companies I saw at Demo Fall 2010 and my reaction to the show and its new venue in the heart of Silicon Valley. But that’s stuff for another post. Jim Forbes on 09/22/2010.

Will Apple's iPad Launch a New Era in Tablet Computing? An Old Timer's View

I can’t bring myself to sing odes to Apple on the imminent release of its new iPad Just yet!

But that’s not to say I don’t respect Apple for what it’s attempting.

The simple truth is I’m a huge fan of tablet computing and have been since the days of General Magic, Slate Inc., Momenta Inc. (a $40 million smoking hole in Silicon Valley’s ground) as well as Palm Inc. So, having lived through numerous technology revolutions and seen the powerful impact Apple can have on a category, there are things about its iPad that could be bellwethers for touch and tablet computing.

Right off the top, a launch backed by applications that take advantage of not just the technology but also the IPad’s form factor is a great first step. I don’t regard third party padded carrying cases, messenger envelopes or wire frame stands for the iPad as significant parts of the launch and believe that  all of this should be included in the original purchase price.

I’m sure there will be hardware opportunities in the iPad market.  I can imagine a rush of wireless keyboards for the new device. Unfortunately, I remember all the third-party keyboards for Palm and Pocket PC devices and  how quickly they failed. But short range networking and wireless hardware could play a big part in the eventual success of iPad.

And this brings me to the AT&T wireless modem –equipped iPad. In the past, along with other pundits who follow portable computing, I have a love/hate relationship with cellular-phone network based data networking.  I love the fact that I can attach to the Internet remotely in venues lacking WiFi access. But the cost of monthly service adds as much as $500 to $700 a year in costs to the portable. With iPad service provider AT&T is offering an inexpensive day use rate, which fits my budget and how often I really require cell-based networking capabilities. I applaud Apple an AT&T for this feature and really believe it’s a step in the right direction for untethered mobile computing.

There are some great applications for Apples tablet computer in the works and I believe they are significant enough to help build momentum for tablet computing.  Second generation mapping applications that can be used by consumers to locate businesses offering special pricing on consumer and other goods is one example. Think MapQuest with pushed coupons or offers. Although such apps are emerging for the iPhone, their migration to the iPad seems like an evolutionary migration.

NetFlix,  sundry printed publication applications,  Yahoo’s content  and the like are big examples of ho-hum apps to me. Some of these are already available for the iPhone.  At best my initial take on the iPad is simple: it’s a better, much more capable, Kindle. It has to be noted that Apple’s recent agreements with textbook publishers such as McGraw Hill are a return to Apple’s once vaunted educational market.

But are college students willing to pay $500 for an electronic book reader with an integrated onscreen keyboard? Looking back, a similar question about pricing was asked of Macintoshes in the college market and more than a few industry execs were surprised to find out that, yes, college students were willing to pay $1,000 for a Mac. And that was an intrinsic part of the early Apple Macintosh story.  Apple could repeat this scenario today with the iPad, but one problem is apparent: College students are accustomed to selling their textbooks at the end of the course and, as yet, there is no mechanism for reselling electronic versions of college textbooks.

Also, I question one of the often proposed usage scenarios for the iPad—watching movies or episodic television on its smallish screen. To begin with, there are already other numerous mechanisms for this application in existence now. And most of those have larger screens and much better audio than the new iPad.

I’ve always had a fear that Apple developed products for itself. That’s part of the reason I’m not enamored of a business model that’s based on Silicon Valley coffee shop usage. That model just doesn’t play in the Heartland where people meet at the local Cracker Barrel or Dennys before starting their workday at a nearby grain silo or agricultural implement repair shop.

But there are new applications Apple can pioneer with iPad. Medicine is one such area and it’s notout of the realm of possibility to imagine iPads being used to collect vital signs and patient information and then transmitting trhyat information to a doc as he heads to a patient exam room. Many such apps are as profitable as they are glamorous.  Furthermore, it wold be easier to  pitch this business model to venture capitalists than it would be a simplea pp that collects pennies on the transaction. Now go a step further and imagine iPads being used at medical conferences or required continuing education classes to distribute rich media pertaining to new treatment programs, surgical procedures or drug therapies.

It’s such ideas that really do bring out  a sense of child-like wonder when I think of Apple today.

If Apple turns tablet and touch computing into a success I’ll be among the first in a long line of industry pundits to give credit for a job well done. I believe tablet and touch computing is about to come of age and Apple has the wherewithal to help make this happen.

And what’s good for the Apple iPad is also good for the HP Slate, and Lenovo’s S10-3t family, as well as the eight other new tablets being ready  to be unveiled in Taipei next month at the Computex trade show in Taiwan. I may not buy an Apple iPad, but I do admire it’s potential to fulfill a long dream of portable computing—touch sensitive tablet computing with numerous connectivity options.—Jim Forbes on 040/02/2010

 

 

Pitching Smart Phone Apps Shouldn't be a Step Back to the pre-DotCom Bubble Burst!

Once a week I get hit with one or two pitches for iPhone applications. Most times, I tune the pitches out. There’s a simple reason for my obstinacy when it comes to iPhone apps: I lived through the Dotcom Gold Rush and came away smarter but wiser.

Having survived the Dotcom era and having accepted that I was one of its whores. I want to see “proof of life” after funding runs out” before I’ll write about any iPhone or Android app. I’ve made my position pretty clear on this matter using acerbic posts on Twitter but I felt it was time to dig a little deeper into the matter. Unless there’s a real revenue stream behind a mobile phone app, any claim about such apps is just hot air. Nevertheless, my phone keeps ringing and the emails continue to pile up in my inbox.

I’m not downplaying the commercial potential of smart phone application. In fact, I believe smartphones applications like those being developed for Apple’s iPhone and Google Android platforms will deliver on the promises of mobile applications that were made throughout the 1990s.

The smart phone app pitches I’ve seen and sat through focus more on the gee whiz nature of bringing an application to a phone than they do: “this is how we’re different and why we can survive.”  Moreover, I seldom see real market demographics associated with smart phone application pitches. And that’s a shame because the one way to grab my (or any other reporter’s) attention is to show me an underserved market that’s underutilizing a ubiquitous technology.

A specific example:  I believe medical applications could be hugely successful on smart phones;  The same holds true for Location- based services Both of the foregoing examples have the potential to pull multiple paid content/ advertising partners into partnerships.

What I don’t see when I get pitched is any evidence of a real revenue stream or any hint that a start-up’s management team can deliver on their promises. One of the dangerous aspects of smart phone applications is a simple but potentially fatal problem: Very few management teams include any person that’s ever successfully dealt with a telco or cell network provider; Or, worse yet, include anyone in direct management that has real experience in  selling an application to a cellular services provider/

When I listen to a canned pitch on a smart phone application I experience an eerie feeling—I heard the same thing 10 years ago before the big dot com meltdown. I hope I’m wrong but if I’m not, Sand hill Road and the parking lots of VC firms  will be littered with the carcasses of smart phone applications start-ups that just don’t understand  fundamental marketing.—Jim Forbes on 02/09/2010.

Apple Munches Lala.com Streaming Music Site--Serial Entrepreneur Bill Nguyen Succeeds Again

One of my favorite serial entrepreneurs just sold his most recent start-up, streaming music site, LaLa.com to Apple Inc.

Lala.com is veteran technology entrepreneur Bill Nguyen’s most recent startup. Apple acquired it over the weekend but did not announce how much it paid for the site or what it would do with the companies technology, which analysts predict will be folded into iTunes, predicting Apple would  enhance Lala.Com’s’s technology by improving its abilities to support higher streaming bit rates, which would provide a consistent user experience across the iTunes’ brand.

Lala.com was part of Bain Investments (and other private investment firm’s) portfolio.

Lala.com, which charges only $(US).10 per tune, allows its users to listen to an entire file before it is purchased. The company is Nguyen’s third successful start-up. His previous company was a unified messaging service called OneBox, which was acquired by Open Wave Inc. in October of 2000 for more than $500 million.

Although Apple has declined to comment on how much it paid for Lala.com and how it intends to use with the technology, bloggers who cover Apple and iTunes related news speculate Lala.com’s music preview abilities, its other technologies and its relationships with European record labels as well as European music producers could have been important considerations in the acquisition.—Jim Forbes December 07, 2009.

All I Really Want in a Mobile App is Great Mobile Commerce and a Secure ID

A recent survey on domestic  US cell phone usage points to the fact that, forced to chose between a cell phone and a wallet, many people would prefer to ditch that bulging piece of cured animal flesh stuffed in their back pocket for a mobile phone that does more than merely let you talk.

            For reasons that remain unclear to me, many US wireless phone users can’t get next to the potential of their mobile phones. And network providers aren’t much help in pushing cell phones to new levels either. They’re too married to the mistaken belief I really want to watch television or grainy YouTube videos on a tiny screen.

Have entrepreneurs really done their homework?  Is there a single mobile phone software developer who can sit in a face to face meeting and tell me that they’ve ever seen a group of domestic US subscribers playing cell phonegames on the train to San Francisco from Palo Alto, or better yet, has anyone ever seen a mobile phone user so caught up in a game they missed their destination on the BART crossing from the East Bay to San Francisco?

            Guess what? Mobile cell phone games are still a $0 sum market in the US.

            Maybe the next big thing might be mobile search—which makes money for the search engine provider, and the network, but  not the company that was searched for in the first place.

            I think it’s time to pull back the focus on mobile phone apps for a minute and see if we can isolate one application that becomes the horse pulling the mobile the application cart. Let’s look at the matrix:

            Standardized Bluetooth or network connectivity to retail outlets?

Check. It’s there, at long last

            Consumer willingness to explore the capabilities of next generation smart phones? Yup, we got a market that’s doing that as well. That box gets a check mark too.

            Consumer banks willing to let customers access and perform transactions from their cell phones?  Check.

            Let’s take a look through the vciew finder at mobile technology and think about what’s missing. I think the answer to that is a glaringly obvious application that’s the first step up the ziggurat that represents this market.

            The application is one that lets me carry my identity and specific financial and other information on my cell phone.  I would like to be able to beam encrypted data to kiosks and transact a little business.

            For example, about twice a year I wander into the local BassPro mega store and buy a couple saltwater lures and a button-down long sleeve shirt that looks fabulous when starched and ironed. When I go into BassPro, I don’t mind that they know I’m there and I’m not offended if they try to sell me something. What a joy it would be to use my cell phone as part of my credit or debit card transaction.

            Take this a step further. If the information stored in my phone is at least128-bit secure, includes a current photo and address and has my California driver’s license number as well as a another unique identification number such as my passport ID number, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to use to board an airplane to fly hither and yon domestically.

            The big catch, of course is getting Homeland Security and its TSA organization to buy into a non-paper system. It’s at this step where the need for a trusted software brand that’s accustomed to dealing with the government comes in. Right off the top of my head examples of brands that already have this relationship and the skills to build such an application (which could be used for both mobile commerce  and personal identification) include: Oracle, Intuit, Microsoft, and a couple of others.

            I’m not naïve enough to believe that a switch from a paper-based or laminated plastic system to electronic ID may happen overnight. I am however patient enough to carry my cell phone and my wallet until all the bugs get worked out.

            I think this is important enough that I’m willing to pay $25 a year for this service. And, like when I recently lost my driver’s license on a business trip to San Francisco, this type of software seems like a more effective of validating who I am, thanusing my Sam’s Club member card that has my picture on it.

            This is exactly the sort of concept I’d love to see shown at Demo in the coming years. Let’s see, a secure electronic document I can carry in my cell phone or a bulging piece of old animal flesh stuck in the back pocket of my jeans?  Not much of a choice is it?—Jim Forbes, 08/22/1008.

Midomi Mobile, Perfect Harmony in Music Search-- Right Place Right Time With an iPhone App

Apple opened it’s iPhone online applications store concurrently with the public release of its new 3G iPhone this week. I guess we can all relax now, the sun is coming up in the post-launch world and there appears to be an initial strong flood tide of applications for Apple’s mobile platform.

            There are few surprises in the first round of iPhone applications; location-centric, business, entertainment and personal productivity applications are a;; represented.

            But initially I wanted to focus on an iPhone version of an application category I’ve watched since the 1990’s—music. High on my list of “hot iPhone apps” is  a music search application called Midomi Mobile. What this application does that’s heretofore been missing in music search, is allow its users to hum, sing, and use multiple modes of inputting rough data to find individual or groups of songs.

            Midomi Mobile is from a Sunnyvale startup called Melodis Corp, whose sound recognition-based search technology is something that’s been missing in Internet –based music services until very recently. Midomi Mobile works even if you can’t carry a tune, or if your singing voice sounds like a bullfrog being castrated. Melodis claims it’s musical search technology is extremely accurate.

            In my continuing quest to fill out my 1970’s music catalogue, I’d love to try and hum a few bars from Little Feet’s “song “Red Streamliner” or the Allman’s Brothers “Les Bres in A Minor” to see if this service delivers on its promises. Or, I just might get up around 3 AM and record birdsongs in my orchard to see I it understands I’m trying to identify and locate the Beatles song “Blackbird (singing in the dead of night)”

            The online video demonstration of Midomi is one of the most compelling consumer technology pitches I’ve ever viewed. It’s exactly the sort of pitch that I would respond to when picking companies for Demo, before my retirement several years ago. Besides its apparent accuracy in returning results to difficult queries entered by off-key singing, humming or haphazard lyrics entry, Midomi also has features that let you annotate and share query results and in some cases music, with friends or readers of personal blogs. The new iPhone application also provides simple one-click links to music and related content from sites such as iTunes.

            But what really makes my heart sing about Midomi Mobile is that it’s a perfect match for two key Apple business strategies; iPhone and iTunes. It’s dificul;t to imagine this three-year–old start up not being pitched heavily by Apple when it needs to demonstrate technologies that bolster its key business units.

            Other music search services have come and gone-- but I suspect Melodis’ Midomi Mobile will set a new gold standard in this category. The technology is tightly linked to Apple and this developer is fosued sharply on an application category that show almost no signs of slowing its hockey stick growth.—Jim Forbes—07/11/2008.

What Does $100 Million For iPhone Developers Buy Apple?--Platform Legitimacy!

The creation of a $100 million fund that’s designed to fuel development of business and other applications for Apple’siPhone could be just the push Apple needs to continue its success.

            Administered by top-ranked Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the iPhone fund has met with unprecedented demand for meetings with the administering firm and downloads of software development kits (SDKs) from Apple. Apple reported earlier this week that its IPhone SDK had been downloaded more than 100,000 times.  Meanwhile, up on Sandhill Road in Menlo Park, CA, KPCB is reportedly seeing meeting requests from startups and established developers alike. All of which want a piece of the iPhone iFund’s gold-laden bandwagon.

            KPCB’s iFund has the same value as it’s Java Fund from the 1990’s. Apple and KPCB officials are hopeful developers will respond to funding with games, location-based services as well as enterprise and personal applications.

            Although games for mobile phones have not gained wide acceptance in the US market, they represent significant revenue in offshore markets such as Asia and Europe. I believe the iPhone with its above average graphics could be the mobile phone platform that makes games a profitable venture for US software developers and their wireless carrier partners. In addition its use of internal hardware that senses whether the phone is being used in landscape or portrait modes could be a boost for games developers looking for a viable platform.

            There are other applications I hope show up for the iPhone. Foremost among those are location based services including generating relevant local coupons. Banking and personal finance packages are other applications that could drive iPhone sales and help carriers.  Chase as well as other banks are now actively advertising the use of mobile phones as a method to check account balances, but the technology could be made much more capable, allowing consumers to perform all of the same financial tasks using their cell phones as they do on their primary computers (view balances as well as manipulate accounts and financial positions).      

            In reports that surfaced earlier this week, there was at least one mention that Apple would need to approve applications for its iPhone.

            According to Kleiner Perkins, the iFund will makes investments as little as $100,000 in seed financing and up to $15 million in expansion funding for mobile applications or services companies. The venture firm also noted that if the demand for iPhone funding exceeded $100 million, the company would raise additional funding.

            The importance of funding programs that are limited to specific platforms is hard to understate, I believe.  Like all risk financing based enterprises, there are many more failures than successes. The Java fund, for example, isn’t notable for the number of its long-term high flyers, but rather that it helped make Java a commonly used platform throughout various computing environments.  Take Marimba Software as an example. It got a lot of attention in the period during and after its funding. But today Marimba is little more than a historical footnote to an earlier time in the entrepreneurial environment of the 1990’s. Now a part of BMC Software Solutions Inc. in Houston, Marimba’s platform is widely used to assess the impact of changes in software throughout an organization.

            The ifund could have the same impact on Apple’s iPhone as the Java Fund had on Sun’s Java platform.  The winner isn’t likely to be any one company or group of entrepreneurs, but rather Apple and its iPhone.

            But Apple could discover a very hungry carnivore hiding out in the dark a few months out. That beast is Google’s Android smart phone architecture and when it hits the US market Apple could find itself in hard fight for the life of the iPhone.

            And it’s too early to count out Palm, which has relationships with most of the major carriers and whose base of users and developers is nearly as loyal as Apple’s. Later this year, Palm is expected to roll out a new version of its Palm OS.

            Let’s see, who do I trust more, Apple or Google? Can I ask the cannibals to dine somewhere else?—Jim Forbes 03/14/2007.